Cervical cancer is one of the most common types of cancer affecting women, the disease being the cause of approximately a quarter of a million deaths every year. Furthermore, for women in the developing countries, it is the leading cause of cancer related mortality.
In the developed countries, there has been a 75% decrease in incidence and mortality from cervical cancer over the past 50 years. Most of this decrease is attributed to cervical cytology screening which helps keep cervical cancer rates relatively low. The screening programs are often effective as women in the developed countries may easily access health facilities for regular Pap tests, i.e. tests for the detection of pre-malignant and malignant processes in the cervix. If a cancer is found, it may be successfully treated while still in the early stages. Thus, early detection and diagnosis can save lives and moreover reduce the burden on the national healthcare system.
In the developing countries, however, the cervical cytology screening is not applicable in low-resource settings. Hospitals in many of the poor countries do not have the resources for this kind of gynecological examination of women. Furthermore, women in some developing countries do not even have access to gynecological investigation whatsoever, due to inferior transportation facilities, wars, or similar obstacles that makes it difficult, or impossible, to get adequate gynecological examinations.
Thus, there is a need to further develop colposcopes or devices of the kind such that more women, especially in the third world, may have access to visual cervical-screening for early detection of cervical pathologies.
For a visual examination of a cervix via colposcopy, the experience of the examiner, e.g. a doctor or a nurse, performing the examination is of vital importance. The experience is gained through numerous examinations using a conventional colposcope which is, therefore, the conventional training tool for gynecologist for visual detection of cervical lesions. For this reason, a reproduction of the lighting of the conventional colposcope is important for the purpose of cervical inspection. For an examiner examining the cervix, the detection of healthy and unhealthy cervical tissue therefore puts high demands on the lighting and the appropriate color rendering.
In patent document U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,512, a portable visual cervical inspection apparatus for visual inspection of a cervix is disclosed. A light source is attached to the housing of the apparatus, adapted to illuminate the cervix with light such to enhance the definition between cancerous and healthy cervical tissue. To provide the illumination of the cervix, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are used.
However, there are problems related to this invention. The lighting as disclosed in the mentioned patent document is not adequate for these purposes, as the light emitted by the combination of the LEDs does not provide a suitable color rendering.